COVENTRY got their Elite League campaign off to a perfect start with a dramatic last-heat win at Foxhall last night.

It was a match of changing fortunes throughout as the Buildbase Bees led by eight, trailed by four and finally took the verdict with skipper Chris Harris splitting Jarek Hampel and Piotr Swiderski in the final race.

On a night when gating was of vital importance, Bees made a rapid start to proceedings as Harris and Ben Barker hit the front in Heat 1 and received no serious challenge from Witches’ No.1 Hampel.

Two 4-2s followed as the visitors went eight points ahead, and Ricky Wells’ debut race provided plenty of excitement as he rounded Dawid Stachyra on the second lap with the Pole losing control and crashing as he tried to respond.

Jordan Frampton won the re-run, as he had led the initial staging, and Olly Allen withstood Daniel King’s strong challenge to keep Coventry’s run going in Heat 3.

But they were then remarkably hit by three successive Ipswich 5-1s, all of which were totally unexpected – and two of them saw Rory Schlein on the receiving end on his former home track.

And in Heat 5, Harris’s pursuit of Daniel King saw him hit the thirdbend fence on the last lap to allow Tobias Kroner to inherit second spot.

Allen and Edward Kennett fashioned a good second-bend combination over Swiderski to bring Bees back level in Heat 7, and they edged back in front with a 4-2 in Heat 8 as Barker went past a lively Carl Wilkinson on the back straight and Frampton saw off Morten Risager.

Bees gained a 4-2 in Heat 9 as a change of bike did the trick for Schlein and Kroner came to a stop whilst in second place – but then Allen crashed into the second bend fence in the next, allowing the home side to trim the gap back to two points.

Stachyra, who did not appear suited to the tight Foxhall circuit, hit the fence again in a shared Heat 11, but Bees gained the huge result of a 5-1 in the next thanks to fast starts from Allen and Frampton, whose performance on an unfamiliar circuit was especially praiseworthy.

The gap was back to four when Hampel held off Harris to win Heat 13, but Kennett maintained breathing space for the Bees with one of the rides of the night in Heat 14, nearly switching back inside King off turn four after the home skipper seemed to have done enough.

Allen got the nod to partner Harris in the decider, and his gating proved important as Swiderski was squeezed out – and although the Pole moved into third place, there was no way past Harris as the Bees took the spoils.

* BEES are unchanged for tonight’s Brandon clash with Belle Vue (8pm) with the Aces going into Elite League action for the first time.

The Manchester club demolished Premier League side Glasgow on Monday, and although little can be read into that result Bees must be aware of the reserve threat of talented Danish youngster Patrick Hougaard as they look to continue their positive start to the campaign.